


Mirage

by Justawriter68



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Desert, M/M, MAMA Era Powers (EXO), Non-Graphic Violence, OT12 (EXO)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23540476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justawriter68/pseuds/Justawriter68
Summary: Minseok is just trying to survive in the desert land that he calls home, long gone are the days of lush green grass and free flowing water.An eclipse changes that.And perhaps it is the start to a beginning that he didn't even know he was searching for.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49
Collections: SnowSpark Fest Round One





	Mirage

**Author's Note:**

> SnowSpark Prompt #132 
> 
> Hello, hello, this is my SnowSpark entry and I will say that my imagination kind of ran wild with this prompt and I had to reign it back in. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy reading! To the prompter, I hope you enjoy and thank you for such a lovely prompt!

Nothing but the sands and the dry lands for as long as the eye could see, nothing living seen amongst the dust and sand ridden land. Perhaps once there had been lush, green, forest animals. 

Life. 

But that was only legend. 

As of this moment there was nothing, just the heat, sun, sand, and the need to survive. 

This was the only thing that Minseok had ever known, and he didn't have time to think about fairy tales if he wanted to survive. And so far he had been doing a good job at doing just that, and would like to keep it that way. 

At the moment that particular facet was focused on the animal that he had been trying to capture for a couple of days now. If he got this, it would last him at least two weeks, maybe more if he was careful with his rations. And it couldn't come too soon as his current supply of food was running low. 

He'd been sitting for hours, waiting for his prey, the sun glaring against his eyes from the sand. Heat elevation could be seen in the distance, lines blurring the surroundings in the distance. He adjusts the cloth covering the majority of his face, leaving the slit for his eyes, one of his only protections against the elements. 

_C'mon..._

He's thinking about turning in for the day, he spots what he's been hunting for and within moments his trap is sprung and he quickly springs from his hiding spot. The sand kicks up under his shoes as he puts the captured creature out of its misery. It's quick for him to completely undo the trap and take his kill back with him. 

The longer he was out here exposed, the more he had a chance of his food source being taken from him, but luckily he had it down pat and was back into the abandoned ruins of a temple from a time long past that he called home.

It was secluded, protected him from the elements, and most importantly, most people didn't come through here. Ever since it was abandoned, it seemed that no one dared set foot on the once holy land. But he himself had been drawn to it, this space that had once been grand and pristine, now falling into ruin and erosion.

He felt comfortable being alone, save the stone statues that were in the room that he lived in, at one point he was sure that one was able to discern facial features. There were eleven of them, and sometimes he felt himself talking to them when he felt the particular need to keep himself from going crazy, it felt like at least someone was listening. 

They didn't make him uneasy, he'd heard before that they were the monuments of the warriors that this temple and its followers used to worship. 

Powerful other worldly beings. 

With their disappearance it seemed that it had turned their world into a desolate hell hole, where it was killed or be killed, living on the scraps of food and water one could find. He had been lucky enough to catch this small animal that would last him for a while. And he set up a system to catch what little water did fall so that he could store it. 

Somehow it seemed that the conditions here got worse day by day and year by year, like something was draining the earth of all its vitality. 

And it was just taking its sweet time like a disease, spreading and killing. 

Minseok unwraps the cloth from his skin, he hopes that part of it hasn't slipped off again and given him some type of gnarly sun burn again, he'd been through it and never again. For some reason, his ancestors had cursed him with skin that skin that easily reddened and burned instead of tanned.

But luckily he felt no signs as he let the brief winds that came through the temple cooling the slight sweat on his skin, he stares around the area listening, to make sure that someone hadn't snuck into the temple while he'd been out although it was unlikely, there was only one way in and out, and anywhere else that looked out had no sort of stair to get into those open spaces. 

After a brief break he got to work skinning, gutting, and preparing the animal for later usage. An action he'd done so many times that he was positive he could do it blindfolded, so it made for quick work and he decided to spend the rest of his afternoon lying back and eating a little of the meat he did have. 

While lying back on what he could call a relatively comfortable sleeping space, he mused to himself, taking in the space around him. It being one of those times that he chose to imagine what this place had looked like before, so far he had at least ten different versions that seemed plausible. 

But he wasn't sure that his mind would actually supply the grandeur that had been. 

It was also one of those times that he contemplated the fact that he was more than likely going to die here. Though he supposed that was better than dying out in the hell scape they called a land, at least this would be on his own terms and of his own choice. 

His gaze then turns to the almost faceless statues. "If you were at all real, it would be really good for you to help now." He doesn't really know what possesses him to say it, just a whim. 

As if the sentence would magically bring figures of myth down from the sky to fix this mess. 

With a sigh Minseok turns on his side, looking out towards one of the open parts of the temple, just nothing for miles and miles but wasteland. 

It’s this familiar sight that leads him to a midday nap. 

However what wakes him up is something completely different and crawling along his skin, something heavy, it was like a shift in his innermost being. However when he scans the area there isn’t anyone standing over him, but his confusion doesn’t lessen as the room seemed darker than when he had slept. 

_There’s no way that I’ve slept that long…_

Before his eyes he witnesses the light giving ever dimmer, It was clearly daylight, everything just looked dimmer. He pushes himself off of the ground moving quickly to go outside, he wasn’t imagining it, everything seemed dimmer. 

As he reached the entrance he looked to the sky, using his hands to shield his eyes a little, what he sees has his breath stilling for a moment. 

The sun was being covered, a little slowly, but it was well on its way to being done. Minseok stayed and watched until the sun was completely eclipsed. It was a sight to behold, he had never seen anything like that happen before in his life. 

It stirred something inside of him. 

It was exactly at this moment he heard shifting from inside of the temple, he turns around attention now on what could be possibly awaiting him on the inside. How had someone managed to get inside? With him standing right at the entrance? 

Though that didn’t matter too much, they had gotten in and now he needed to get them out. He slows down in his step so that he won’t be heard, taking his time as he comes upon the room that he called room, the sound of stone crashing getting louder. 

Was someone breaking the statues? 

Though none of the things he was thinking could possibly be the cause could have prepared him for the actual truth, the statues were moving. The cold stone, the only thing that he had called some type of company during his isolation, were now moving around. The once grey, chipped, and faceless stone, now fell away to flesh, discernible eyes, nose, lips, and now voices. 

Oh shit! 

He ducks behind some more fallen stone, some that he hoped very much would stay in its inanimate state. It isn’t long before there were voices coming from the new individuals in the room. He wasn’t sure if he could take them, and to get his things he would have to go through them to the other side. 

He really didn’t want to do that. 

He weighs his options as the men continue to talk, their voices sounding a little distraught and confused. He wasn’t really registering what they were talking about, Minseok was too busy trying to see if he could sneak around them to get his things and then make a dash from the door. He deems it doable and begins creeping along the floor, keeping low and out of any possible lines of sight. 

It goes well, Minseok is almost to his things when he hears all of the conversation stop. 

“We’re not alone.” 

Minseok curses under his breath, they must’ve finally seen his things, it was now or never. He bolts out taking his bag off of the floor, along with his cloak, only paying attention to making it out of the temple and hiding somewhere. 

“Hey!” 

Minseok pulls his covering over his face, putting his bag over his shoulders, the dimmed outside was inside, though he could see it getting brighter as time went on. 

“Jongin!” He hears another voice behind him call.

There’s the sound of the absence of silence almost when he suddenly sees a man in front of him, he barely has enough time to stop some of his momentum. The other guy holds his hands up as if to say that he meant no harm. 

“Wait, please stop—” Minseok doesn’t let the black haired stranger finish before he’s already grabbed him and flipped him over, but in the midst of it he feels the guy disappear from his hands. 

Then moments later those very same arms are around him, but he counters, the movements come natural to him. Second nature, it was as if he was born to fight, he makes his way out of the other man's grasp. Taking his feet out from under him, he hears air leave the other’s lung in a painful rush. 

Minseok doesn’t take the time to take a look at his handy work, his only concern is getting outside and away, he’s almost to the entrance when there’s a crack from behind him, a stone is sent flying the suddenness has him losing his footing and he crashes to the stone floor, feeling the stinging of his palms. 

He’s halted in his movements by what looks like a rope of water on one of his ankles when he’s holding him there, when he looks up he sees what had caused the cracking sound. A fierce looking man, eyebrows accented by anger, the man held what looked to be a whip made of pure energy in one hand, it crackled and sparked in his hand, casting shadows along his face making the already defined points of his cheekbones look all more defined, under the shadow of shifting light. 

It was obvious that this man would not hesitate to kill him if need be. 

He knew that obviously these people couldn’t be normal, they had been statues less than ten minutes ago. 

But this was something entirely different. 

“Where the hell is he?” The man with the whip demands, the whip crackled in time with each of his words. 

As if it by itself was going to articulate just how much fury the other holds. 

He had no doubt in his mind that it could do just that. 

Minseok watched how the man's eyes now seemed to glow with the same lightning as the whip. The man screamed power and Minseok wasn’t too sure that there was anything that he would do about that. 

But he was damn sure going to keep his head up, even if this was how it ended. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He spits, the cloth covering his mouth and nose muffling some of his voice. “I don’t know who _he_ is!”

The glowing eyes of this other man narrow. “Liar.”

He can see the hand holding the whip beginning to lift up, and on an impulse decision, Minseok rips his face covering from the bottom half of his face. If this guy was going to kill him he was going to look him in the eyes while he did it. 

Minseok glared at the man with just as much intensity as he was given, waiting for his hand to come down, but that moment never came as the man’s expression changed and the weapon in his hand slowly dissipated. Something akin to confusion is now covering his face in place of the angry expression his face now highlighted by the natural light flooding into the temple. 

The haze had lifted. 

Minseok is confused as to why the other had suddenly stopped, like someone taking wind out of sails. 

“Jongdae?” Another voice joins him, this man is of similar height, Minseok notes that this is the one that has his ankle caught as he can see the long rope of water attached to his hand. “What’s…” 

This other man’s speech stopped in its tracks, and Minseok feels the pressure on his ankle disappear, the water had fallen from his ankle, turning the sand on the ground into a darker brown. He took advantage of the moment to get onto his feet, pulling out the dagger he kept on him at all times as others arrived and surrounded him. 

All of them soon wore the same expression that the other two wore, there was also something else there that Minseok couldn’t exactly place. He held his dagger at then ready, realistically he knew there was no way he was going to be able to fend off eleven of them. Especially if they were specially inclined as these other two had shown. 

But he wouldn’t let them see him sweat. 

Finally one of them steps forward out of the circle and Minseok’s attention is turned on him, the dagger glinting slightly now that the sun had returned to its former glory. The man approaching him does so with his hands up and a gentle smile, he could see dimples accompanied the gesture. 

“My name is Yixing, we’re not here to hurt you, my friends and I just want to ask questions.” His voice is soft, Minseok couldn’t see any visible weapons on him, but he had no idea what Yixing’s ability was. 

“That’s close enough.” He tells the former statue, his knife still pointed out towards him. His eyes scan the rest of the men there before resting on Yixing. “Speak.”

“We just wanted to know what happened here? What is this place?” 

Minseok can see the genuine curiosity and confusion laced across all of their faces, he knows that his dagger wouldn’t do much against these men if they seriously wanted to do something to him, so he decides to put it away, tucking it back into the folds of his clothing where the sheathe was always hidden. 

“This is a temple, very obviously abandoned as you can see… and no one really knows what happened, the story has been muddled up so much that is much more a myth than any fact.” He shrugs. “One thing that is for certain is that, one day the world just started dying and turned into a hell hole, that’s much like this.” 

“How long have you been here?” 

Minseok turns his head towards the man that he recognized as the one who had done the thing with the water. “A few years,” He shrugs. “Time keeping becomes less important when you have to survive.” 

“Why are you alone here? Where are the other people?” Another one questions, he recognizes him as the the one that had tried to stop him from leaving. 

“The land died, and they all left… many believe that this place is cursed, so no one comes here.” 

There is a bout of silence throughout the room, and its as if the men are having a silent conversation, Minseok takes the time to move and pick his bag from off of the ground, going back to the main chamber to pack up the rest of his things he had disregarded in his rush to leave the predicament. 

Soon he can feel that he was not alone anymore hearing the footsteps coming towards him as he packs the rest of his things. 

“Where are you going?” 

Minseok doesn’t bother looking back to see who had even asked the question, as when he left here that would even matter him any more. What was more important was getting away, whatever this phenomena was, he knew that it was more than likely going to garner attention in a way that he certainly didn’t want. 

“Away from here.” He folds his blanket up tight sticking the important items into it before carefully placing it inside of his bag. “And I would advise you to do the same.” He shrugs the back pack on. 

He doesn’t know why he was giving them the advice it was obvious that they could more than likely handle what, or who ever came their way without too much trouble. But as for him, he didn’t want to get caught up in whatever they more than likely had going on, in this world there was enough to worry about. 

“Where will you go?” He recognizes the voice of Yixing. 

He pauses, taking the moment to look back at the gentle looking man, for some other reason Yixing didn’t rise need for his fight or flight instincts. “Why do you care?” 

The question isn’t harsh. 

“Because if what you said is true about the outside, wouldn’t it be more dangerous to move alone? If it is a wasteland like you said.” 

He couldn’t deny the logic of the other man, he honestly had no one else to go, nor supplies to make his way through the vast wasteland. But something at the back of his mind was bother urging him to go and for him to stay. 

“Look,” The man who had used literal water to stop him before steps forward. “Its obvious that we could help each other, we help you get somewhere safe, and you help us understand how this world works.” 

Minseok searches his eyes. 

“Does that sound fair?” 

Minseok thinks it over again for a moment, although he was uneasy about being around this many people. It could end up doing more good than harm, but that was something yet to be determined. 

“Sounds fair.” He drops his bag. 

The man smiles, an almost contrast to the seriousness of his expression before. “Great! My name is Junmyeon.” 

Minseok nods his head at the greeting, dropping the rest of his wrappings to his pack. “But I don’t have any extra food or water, sorry about that.” 

Junmyeon smiles. “Not a problem at all, we can take care of that ourselves.” 

Minseok nods, taking a seat a little ways away from them to observe as the rest of them begin to move around under Junmyeon’s direction. Establishing that he was indeed some type of leadership to this group of people, if he could call them people. 

He was still trying to process the former statue piece of the puzzle. 

But as he watches as they move around and start a fire, starting a fire meaning one of them, a tall limbed man with a bright smile, making flame appear in his hand and then setting in in the kindling. 

Perhaps he had made the right choice to stay with them. 

Fire, water, teleportation? Speed? He wasn’t too sure about that one. Lightning… his gaze falls to the angry man from earlier. 

Somewhere along watching them he pulls out a little of the desert creature that he’d captured, and taking the time to put on his earring, the small weight always having a comforting effect when he wore it even if it was to make sure it wouldn’t get stolen and then sold like scrap. 

They would literally have to physically remove it from him if they wanted it. 

Not a task many were willing to take on. 

He watches the group of men sit around the newly formed fire, talking low, most of them looking quite serious. Junmyeon sitting next to another man with strong features, he figures that the other man must be his second in command. 

He chews another piece of meat, already toughening up a little from the drying, a little bit salty against his tongue. 

He honestly couldn’t compare it to anything else, but it was a lot better than nothing. 

He notes that one of the others in the circles gaze kept wandering over to him, the tall one who had lit the fire with flames from his palms. 

They lock eyes. 

The other man is the first to look away, quickly as if it would negate the fact that he had been caught staring. 

“Why don’t you join us?” Yixing smiles at him, offering him an open seat, just beside him. 

He takes a moment before gathering his things and joining the circle of people, choosing to stash his meat away in his pack. Eyes taking in the rest of the men around him, some of them he found, looked young. 

Yixing smiles at him. “What should we call you?” 

“Minseok.” It is almost foreign to hear it come out of his mouth for the first time in what felt like forever, the syllables foreign on his tongue. 

Yixing’s dimples show themselves more as he looks at him. “You already know Junmyeon and I…” 

The other man, beginning to go around the circle introducing the rest, starting with the person he recognized as the one who had initially tried to stop him. Looking at him closer, he definitely seemed to be part of the younger of the group, his eyes looking at him a little shyly. But the smile was kind nonetheless. 

Jongin, Sehun, Kyungsoo, the second two of the trio having more stoic expressions but nonetheless he could tell that they were kind as well. Tao, Yifan, Luhan, as for those three he wasn’t able to ascertain a certain read on them as they had pretty much neutral expressions through their brief introductions. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae, the first two introductions by far the most energetic and openly welcoming next to Yixing and Junmyeon’s. 

And then last was Jongdae, well he just seemed to be as furious as he was when they had just encountered each other, slight glare going through him before he looked away towards some other point in the room. 

Minseok nods, at all of the introductions. “Nice to meet you all, I guess…” 

He didn’t really didn’t know how to feel about the fact that he wasn’t alone for the first time in literally forever it seemed, as he had learned quickly that it was much safer to keep to yourself as others would do anything to keep themselves alive. 

“You mentioned that you could tell us more, is there a map or anything we could see, or that you could explain to us?” Large eyes search his, Kyungsoo’s deeper voice fills the space in between them. 

Minseok feels the instinctual pull on his mind that he shouldn’t be pulling out his map for these absolute strangers but before his brain can make him halt any action of the sort he’s already displaying it on the sand covered stone. The hologram popping up in all of its blue glory, a nice piece of machinery that someone would kill him for simply because it could gain him another meal or possibly help them ascend. 

“We are here…” He points towards the highlighted area on the map, bringing out the image from the small area with a pinch of his fingers, showing the entire of the mapped land. “That is the wasteland outside, it goes between us and the main city.” He scrolls over. “Those are the Badlands… which is just really where more people live outside of the main city.” 

He can hear the others sitting around him move in a little closer and then he sees Kyungsoo’s finger touch the hologram lightly, now focusing on that particular area. His eyebrows furrowing together at the lack of distinction of the area. “What’s this?” 

“The tundra… it's just a plane of ice.” He zooms back out on the larger area so that they can see the entirety of the map again. 

“What about the areas beyond that?” Yifan asks, his own voice like Kyungsoo’s deep but it wasn’t at all that quiet even though he wasn’t yelling. 

Minseok shakes his head. “Freeland? Other cities? No one really knows, anyone who tries to head in that direction or towards the tundra doesn’t come back.” 

The silence after that is filled with the brief pop and crackle of the fire as the information is absorbed. 

“If you say the rest of the land is becoming like this, how did the sheet of ice form?” Chanyeol asks. 

Minseok shakes his head again, meeting the tall warriors wide eyes. Shutting off the small device, and placing it back in his bag. “No one really knows, just that one day there was this really bright light… and then it was there. It's been so long that no one actually remembers or knows.” 

“Okay, so then what’s the best way to go about this?” Kyungsoo asks, taking a step back. 

“Travel at night, so we don’t attract the powers that be and other people hanging around who would love nothing more to get a good pay day.” He sits back up, a small huff of air leaving his nose as he sits back. 

“The powers that be?” he looks at the small black haired man asking the question, Baekhyun he recalls. 

“The ones that run the city, and pretty much oversee the lands. The showed up to restore order after things went into complete chaos.” He sighs. “But it seems that things have gotten worse under their administration. I wish there was more that I could tell you, but… again, anyone who goes in that direction is never seen again.” 

“No need to be sorry, what you’ve told us has been really helpful…” Junmyeon assures, throwing him a smile, and then he turns to address the others. “Prepare to leave as soon as the sun lowers beyond the horizon.” 

The group makes sounds of affirmation. 

“Are we even sure that any of it will still be there?” One of the younger ones he remembers, a stoic face and short hair as he gazes at his leader. 

“There’s only one way to find out, Sehun… and the sooner we do it the sooner we know what we’re working with.” 

Soon the group is pushing to their feet, heading off into another direction of the temple, he has the urge to follow along, so he acts on it. He was sure if they wanted to stop him from following they would. He makes sure to adjust his bag to his back properly, following the group of men through the various hallways that he had explored often in the beginning, when he was bored, and to make sure that no one was hiding in the shadows to try and kill him. 

But it had just left him to mostly admire the crumbling ruins and try and decide what they would have looked like in their prime. Now it was just a sand filled cavern with barely any echoes of its past in any meaningful form. 

“This place used to be so beautiful…” Yixing remarks as they come to a stop in front of a section of wall that he knew to be a dead end. 

“Sometimes I tried to imagine this place when it was taken care of… I’m sure nothing I imagine could even come close to whatever it was in its prime.” 

The other gives him the briefest of smiles. “However, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t ever be again.” 

He doesn’t have much to say to that before the wall that he knew as a dead end suddenly doesn’t become so dead anymore, the wall opening up to reveal another large space that all the men file into. Minseok trails behind, looking at what seemed to be a weapons room, he could see the group going to various spots in the room central to them. 

Unlike the rest of the temple, this place was immaculate, not ruined or dusted away by the hands of time. Minseok took a pause to take in the surrounding area, from the grandness of the marble columns. And the overall aura of the space, it felt alive and peaceful with the energy coursing through his senses. 

“Looks like the wards held...” Yifan says, going to his own space pulling down what looked to be a set of weapons. 

“Surprisingly...” Junmyeon mutters, doing the same as the other man had. 

Minseok takes his own stride of the room, ending up in front of one of the spaces which looked suspiciously empty. He clawed his mind as to why that might be, but nothing immediate was coming to mind. “Is that surprising?” 

“A little," Chanyeol answers with a bit of a smile on his face. “None of us were here to uphold it...” 

Minseok nods. “I see...” 

The rest of the time is spent with Minseok watching them get the rest of their things together for a while before he announces that he’s going up to keep watch of the outside, leaning against one of the pillars of the exterior. Watching the orange of the sands shift into a muted color of moonlight, listening out for the possible announcement of someone arriving. 

But for the most part he could only hope that this wasn’t going to turn out to be a mistake. He pulls out the earring, looking at the simple gold and stone jewelry in his hand, like his good luck charm. “Don’t fail me now.” He fastens the piece to his ear underneath his head covering. 

“It’ll be a goodnight to travel.” A voice remarks from beside him, it takes everything in Minseok not to jump at the suddenness, looking to his side to find Sehun standing there. 

Instead Minseok just looks at the younger a little uneasily. “Yeah… low wind, I hope it stays that way.” 

Looking at Sehun this close, he can definitely see that he did look a little younger than he had originally thought. Although there is maturity there, his features still give him a bit of a boyish charm. Even though it was contrary to what he knew to be true of them, he was much older than he looked to the human eye, but the youngest of these supposed gods. 

Sehun gives him a brief hum in acknowledgment of the words, before turning his gaze to Minseok there’s a question there in his eyes. 

“Sehun! There you are.” Chanyeol coming up behind them both, wrapping one arm around Sehun’s shoulder. 

"What are you doing out here?" His gazes flickers between the both of them, bright, something that reminds Minseok almost of a small child. 

"Nothing." Sehun replies, his tone even.

"Sehun, just noted how calm the night was..." Minseok picks his sack up from off of the ground adjusting it securely to his back. "Are you all ready to go? We're losing moonlight." 

"Don't worry, Minseok. We're ready." Junmyeon appears from the entrance of the temple with the rest of the group following right behind. 

A little more cleaned up, and in much different attire, parts of it glimmering that he was sure was an armor of some sort. 

"If we leave now, it should take us two to three days to arrive to the main city, on the condition that nothing should arise during our travels." He turns away from the dunes of sand, colors now muted by the moon. “We can maybe make it to the halfway point tonight if you're motivated." 

"No need." Junmyeon replies with a smile. "Jongin?" 

The young man steps forward, still adjusting his cuff links until they're fit enough onto his wrists, he gives Junmyeon a nod as he steps forward, and then his attention shifts to Minseok. "You don't get motion sick easily do you?" 

"No." Minseok shakes his head. 

"Then hold on tight to someone, anywhere, just as long as you're able to have contact." He explains. "I suggest the forearms or a hand being the best." 

Minseok does as he's told, resting his hands on both Baekhyun and Sehun, the latter of which offers him a small smile. 

"You sure you're able to do something this big this soon?" Yifan asks.

Jongin smiles a little. "I won't know until I try, I was able to get a good look at the map, so I think I should be okay." 

"Just make sure, we're a little ways from the outside of the city." Minseok advises. "There are constantly guards on the outside. 

Jongin nods closing his eyes, and Minseok can't help but feel a tiny bubble of apprehension in his chest. Although he saw Jongin doing it, he didn't realize that it extended past himself. 

The moment it happens, he expects it to feel like standing in the middle of a sandstorm, something pulling him at all sides, but it's merely a little blur over his vision. And that was over faster than he could blink, their surroundings now changed from purely the dunes. To the metallic cold of the city beginning to loom in front of them. 

"Nice job, Nini." Junmyeon pats Jongin's back steps forward to assess their destination. 

Minseok had always gotten an uneasy feeling being near the city, so he cut his time short anytime he absolutely needed to be in there, or just completely avoided it all together.

Minseok looks at Junmyeon. "I don't know what you're looking for, but I'm assuming its no good." 

Junmyeon turns to him, questioning gaze. “What makes you think that?" 

"No one looking for anything good ever comes here." Minseok replies, pulling up his face covering. "That or they're desperate." 

On top of that it made his skin crawl.

Minseok looks at all of their attire once more. "Isn't there any way you can tone down the outfits? You all are like beacons." 

"Don't worry, they're not going to notice us." Luhan says, his eyes for a moment flashing green. 

Minseok nods once stepping off to lead them into the city, and as Luhan states, the guards don't stop them for anything unusual as they pass through. The outside soon being covered by buildings, and the sheer number of people on the street. It's like a small market, filled with items that others had stolen from others, or purely information at the chance for some decent food and their fill of water. 

"What do they sell here?"Minseok hears, Kyungsoo ask, his large dark eyes drinking in the surroundings. 

"Information, valuables... anything for food or clean water. And if they're lucky enough, maybe something to help them ascend." Minseok explains. "Taking bounties." 

Trudging forward, not acknowledging the various booth owners, calling him to buy a weapon, or offer information they have. 

"Bounties?" Junmyeon questions, coming up beside him. 

Minseok comes to a stop in the middle of the square, he can feel the stares and other attention being shifted to their group. He pulls his covering up to his face just a bit tighter, placing his fingers just a bit on his knife under his sleeve. "Yeah, for those who still celebrate the old days." He explains in a bit of a lower voice. 

Junmyeon nods in a bit of understanding, his brow furrowing in thought.

"This is where we part ways, I hope you find what you're looking for." Minseok's eyes scan the whole group, the last pair of eyes being Jongdae's before he looks away lingering a little bit. 

Junmyeon nods, pursing his lips. "You too..." 

Minseok turns away then, melting into the crowd, fighting the urge to turn around and look back. But eventually he does, seeing nothing but an empty street where the group once was

Gone like smoke, and perhaps the illusions that they were, Minseok shakes his head continuing his path towards some type of lodging for the night. 

Replacing his thoughts with his next steps of survival. 

***

_"Don't you dare!” a voice shouts, not his own._

_The howling of wind it seemed, meshing of voices more noise than anything truly coherent to the human ear._

_Despite that and the exhaustion heaving his limbs, blood running into his brow, almost obscuring his vision. However it doesn't stop a smile from gracing his face and the rush of cold air that follows with the flick of his hand._

_The winds now howled a lot louder, as if the action had displeased the wind itself._

_There's a sorry on his lips that he can't get out, a plethora of other things too._

_He's hoping that his actions will convey enough._

_"Hyung!"_

The shout long follows Minseok into consciousness, realizing as he jolts up from the stasis of his sleep, as sweaty as if he had been fighting for his life. Heart thumping from his chest as if it was threatening to escape from his chest. Minseok rests his hand there, taking in a deep breath as he tries to shake the last whips of the dream from his body. 

Minseok’s eyes turn to the window. 

Finding that the wind just wasn’t included in the last wisps of his dreams, It was actually tangible and real, the outside of the window filled with wind and rain, something that was unheard of. 

"What the hell?" He whispers to himself, climbing out of the bed, that sudden feeling of his skin crawling returning. 

There was something happening, although he didn't know what it was. 

Minseok immediately finds his dagger and places it on him, also putting his earring back on, planning to wait whatever this was out. Because there was no way that he was going to be able to go anywhere with the weather. 

That made him antsy as well, knowing that he was essentially trapped inside of the building. 

With a sigh he walks over to the door, perhaps he could ask the lady at the desk if she had anything that could possibly withstand the weather, should he feel a little squirrely and decides to head out despite that. 

He heads out into the hall fully intending, to head down as planned and barter for supplies, but hearing other voices has him stopping in his tracks, the hairs on his arms rising up again. 

"We've been alerted that there has been strange activity in the area, has anyone new checked in in the past few hours?" 

Minseok doesn't wait until the lady gives them an answer, he knew either way that she more than likely would, and had to. It makes for a quick return to his room, stuffing some of his things back into his bag, and then shoving his shoes back on. 

There was no way he was going to be able to walk out the front door without any type of confrontation, and even if he did try he could feel that it would more than likely not end very well. 

"Open up!" Two bangs on his door. 

He was more than out of time. 

"We need to ask you about some questions, about strange activity." 

Although he could chance it and answer their questions, perhaps they would just leave. Running would definitely make it seem that he had something to hide. 

Minseok takes a breath, setting down his bag, and going over to crack the door just enough that he could see them and he could be seen slightly. 

Three guards greet his eyes at the door. 

"Yes?" Minseok questions. 

"We are here to ask if you've witnessed anything strange this past evening, there have been strange reports of a phenomenon outside of the city.”

Minseok takes in their appearance, Drones, humans who have turned their services over to the powers that be in the city. They always ended up giving off the feeling that they were something other than human. 

Almost robotic, cold dead eyes, and even more monotone voices. 

Minseok leans against the doorframe a little. "Anything strange? No... not besides the sun being covered earlier that everyone witnessed." 

There's a pause of silence for a moment before one of them speak up. "We're going to need to see your ID please." 

He holds out his hand for Minseok's wrists, for the identifying marker that everyone seemed to have. 

Everyone but him.

Minseok pushes off of the door frame standing upright, its then that he knew his jig was up, either way they would try and take him in. 

"Non-compliance will lead to us having to use force." 

Minseok grimaces a little, making a little sound with his mouth. "I've never been one for people." 

Minseok's eyes flicker over as he watches another one of the men with them reach over and whisper something in his ear. He can see that there is something written on the device that the other man held in his hands. 

"You'll need to come with us." He can see the front guard moving to his hip. 

"Sorry. I have somewhere else to be." Minseok then quickly tries and shut the door, his own physical strength getting the door shut and locked before he is able to push one of the other pieces of furniture against the now banging against the door. 

He could already hear the creaking of the wood alerting him that this room wasn't going to be empty much longer. He quickly grabs his things, going over to the window, opening it and throwing it to the roof outside, and then squeezing himself through the opening. Just as he does, he can hear the door break and the scratching of the furniture against the floor.

His only problem is that he couldn't see the ground really below him with the way the rain was being thrown into his face, clothes immediately being drenched. 

"Minseok!" 

His attention turns towards the voice, he can see a hazy figure blinking the water mostly out of his vision. But luckily his memory was keen on picking up a voice, it sounds like Junmyeon’s.

"Minseok, jump!" 

He didn't like this, he didn't like any of this one bit, but he figured that jumping down was better than getting captured by the drones, so he takes the leap of faith. Throwing down his bag first, and then himself, in moments he can hear a soft grunt and feel arms holding him. 

He was relieved to actually find it was Junmyeon. 

"Thanks..." He says quickly as he's set down on the ground. 

He takes in the other mans appearance picking up his bag and slinging it on, still in the armor of sorts, so that they stuck out like a beacon. And unlike him, he didn't look like a drop of water had touched him. This was only confirmed as he watched the rain water bend around the form of the other man. 

"Hyung!" Suddenly, Jongin is joining them with a pop, but like Minseok he was also thoroughly soaked with rain water. 

Junmyeon turns to the younger man. "Where's Sehun and Jongdae?”

"Finishing things up." Jongin responds, looking over in the direction behind them. 

Minseok follows his gaze, now only noticing the cataclysm of wind and lightning in the opposite direction as them, it was a sparkling and loud display, as the various streaks of light ripped through the sky with it the sound reverberating through Minseok's chest. 

His eyes turn from that area to the roof behind them. "Behind you!" He yells at Junmyeon.

Who promptly turns, with a wave of his hand catching the weapon made for him, and sweeping the three drones away.

"Take us to the others." Junmyeon tells Jongin. 

Jongin nods his head, placing a hand on each of them, Minseok experiencing the same feeling as before just a small shift in gravity, and then he's looking at the others.

"Nice of you to join us again." Luhan remarks, with a slight smile, it was as if he knew something Minseok didn't or had been expecting this. 

Minseok just stares. 

"Sehun and Jongdae?" Yifan questions. 

"They'll be joining us shortly." Junmyeon states. "For now, we need to move a little bit... they had gotten to Minseok by the time I arrived.” 

Yifan next to him, nods, his expression as serious. and perhaps even more so than that given the situation. "Let's move then... I'll fly a little ahead to make sure no one is waiting for us.”

Its then Minseok witnesses Yifan push off into the sky, gone with a simple boom in the sky, disappearing into the sheet of rain. Minseok was further beginning to realizes that he had definitely gotten involved in something that was beyond his league, and that it was far too late for him to become uninvolved. 

Perhaps even from the moment he witnessed the sun being covered. 

"Hyung... can you?" Baekhyun from beside Chanyeol waves his finger in a little circle pointing to the sky. 

"Yeah..." Junmyeon nods his head, extending whatever it was to just the space surrounding them. "I'll completely cut it once we're farther off." 

A lot of the others, Minseok included, run a hand through their sopping wet hair, Chanyeol though was already mostly dry steam coming up from his hair and the rest of his body. 

"I'll make a path..." Kyungsoo steps forward wringing some water out of his clothes, and with each step solid ground appeared beneath him instead of the soggy brown soup the sand had turned into beneath them. 

As they walked, all Minseok could do was check that he had everything on him, relief flooding him temporarily when he reaches for his ear and finds the piece of small jewelry there at all. 

Such a small trinket in essence shouldn't matter, but he found that he had never been able to leave it behind no matter the situation. 

After a few more minutes a crack joins them, and as stated it was Jongdae and Sehun making their entrance, Sehun looking a little water logged and tired. Jongdae looking a little worn as well, the last of the sparks from his eyes and his body fading away into the air. Leaving only the barest hint of charge and ozone. 

"That should put them out for a while." Jongdae remarks, one side of his mouth quirking up a little more. 

"If they do I'll be surprised." Sehun says as well, running a hand through his hair, some of the tufts moving then. 

"You're both okay?" Junmyeon steps forward checking them both over.

Jongdae waves him off. "Nothing that will kill us." 

"I'll look you over once we're able to fully stop." Yixing says, he himself sporting a few scratches, making Minseok wonder what exactly his ability was. 

"We're clear..." Yifan pops back in, shaking water from his own hair. 

"The question is where to go next... we can't return to the temple. They'll definitely look there next." Junmyeon muses, his face furrowing in thought once again.

"I know somewhere we can go." Minseok announces, bringing all of the attention to him. "And it will take them a little while to get there too.”

A few minutes of describing the place they should go to Jongin, and minseok finds himself in familiar surroundings despite the dark, and for the moment without rain. Like most of this world, everything had a lifeless quality, something that may have at one time been a lake was now swampy and odd looking, trees once filled with blooms now gnarled curling branches. 

The pathways now lined with grass nothing but dirt rocks, and some of the sand that would frequently get blown over from sandstorms and such. 

"Follow me..." Minseok steps forward, preparing to lead him to the small civilization that was here despite the conditions. 

"Where are we?" Tao's voice asks the question, it was the first time he had heard him speak directly to him other than introductions. Minseok had decided to gauge that Tao was a similar age to both Sehun and Jongin if not just a little bit older. 

"The Badlands." Minseok answers, pushing aside an especially stubborn branch. 

"You mean people actually live out here?" Baekhyun's voice is laced with disbelief.

"He was living in the desert," Jongdae comments. "So how is this much more surprising?”

"Please, you say as if you would actually believe upon first glance, people live here.” Baekhyun fires back. "Besides it's so dark here..." Upon that statement balls of light weave their way around him and the others easier lighting their path than the moonlight. 

"Well, luckily you won't have to be in it for too much longer." Minseok pushes another branch out of the way, effectively revealing the small settlement of sorts, buildings that were probably once proudly taken care of, not succumbing to the harsher conditions. 

A few people could be seen about, looking at the new group suspiciously, they either whispered among themselves or just whisked themselves into their houses. 

Minseok pays them no mind, finding the door he was looking for and knocking on it a couple of times solidly. Soon, the doorway opens and a small elderly woman fills the doorway. 

"Ma'am..." Minseok says. 

The woman peeks behind him at the group, and then looks back at him with a sigh. "What has happened now? You coming here means nothing good, Minseok." 

"I know... and I'll explain." 

The older woman gives him another look before stepping aside and letting them into the house. Asking for them to pardon the small space, because obviously she didn't expect to have so many guests.

"This strange event has stirred many things up... I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before I saw you again." The older woman takes a seat, the small space was sparsely decorated but enough for her living there. 

"We won't be here for long... we just needed somewhere to go for the night." Minseok explains. 

She nods, hands curling around a cup. "Alright, then please go out and collect me these things..." She hands him a list. "You know where to go. Be quick." 

Minseok takes the paper without complaint. "Yes ma'am." He excuses himself leaving the residence. 

Heading out into the night air brings a sort of uneasiness, he could only hope that he had been correct in assuming that the drones and maybe others wouldn't find their way here so quickly. With this thought on his mind he gets what items are on the list, and quickly makes his way back to her small house. 

Ignoring all of the usual stares and looks that he got when he did come here.

He renters the house, seeing that the group of gods, warriors, whatever they wanted to be called. He had yet to ask them that distinction. 

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important?" He remarks, locking the door behind him. 

"Not at all." The older woman remarks. "Your friends were just asking me a couple of questions." 

Minseok nods. 

"Did you get everything without much trouble?”

"Yeah, just the usual looks... but no one said anything." He hands her the bag, as she comes up to him. 

"Do they not like Minseok?" Jongdae asks, his expression for once isn't as hard as it had been since they had encountered each other.

"I make them uneasy." Minseok explains. "To them I'll bring trouble, to their relatively peaceful living experience." He shrugs. "Can't blame them, they're just trying to stay alive." 

"I see," Junmyeon nods his head. "Thank you for letting us stay here for the night, we hope we don't trouble you much." 

"Not at all..." the older lady waves him off, disappearing into her small kitchen with the bags that Minseok had brought back. 

After this, they all have a small dinner, cooked relatively quickly with the help of Chanyeol and Luhan.

Apparently even legendary gods needed to eat. 

Settling in, Minseok watched from a pretty secluded place on the floor. "What did you do tonight?" He asks. "Obviously it was something that caused you to have such a flashy escape." 

The group shuffles a little, eyes darting around a little; before Chanyeol gives him a little smile. 

“Flashy is a word... ah, we sort of broke into their base?” He offers a smile. 

Minseok looks the taller man over a bit more, noticing the marks on his knuckles and small cuts on his face.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Minseok raises his eyebrow. 

“Yes, we were able to collect the information we were looking for.” Yifan answers. Taking a seat on the floor with a slight grunt.

“Our next plan is to head over to the ice plane you spoke of.” Junmyeon says. 

“So there is something there?” Minseok questions. 

"What is it?" 

"We weren't able to get that information before we had to go." Jongdae states. "But it was obvious whatever it is, its powerful.”

"I see... we're heading there tomorrow." Minseok sighs a little bit. 

"You're... coming with us?" Sehun asks, the younger looks a bit apprehensive asking the question. 

"Of course. Too late for me to back out now, they're after me." He chuckles a little. "I've got to see it to the end. And if it means a little change of the current situation, then I'm game for that too." 

Yixing smiles. "So you aren't totally ignorant to the world." 

Minseok shrugs. "It was just easier to pretend to be, besides I didn't, and still technically don't have the means to do so. And sticking with you both seems to be the best way to stay alive at the moment... and to get into more trouble." 

"So, either way you're boxed in." Luhan remarks. 

Minseok nods. "You said it." 

"Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you." Baekhyun says firmly. 

Minseok smiles a little, he doesn't know why but the comment is a little endearing. "That's comforting... coming from gods? People worshiped you right?" 

"That's correct." Jongin states. "Though we like to think of ourselves more as protectors, Gods always seemed a bit too haughty. But they still built tributes anyways." He smiles a little. 

"Huh, well I guess that means you were doing what you set out to do." Minseok nods. "I always did take some of the legends with a grain of salt... some of the stuff seemed impossible even though I lived in your temple." 

"What was so impossible about it?" Jongdae asks. 

"I don't really know, just that it's been so long, If you all were supposed to protect the world. Why did you just disappear?" Minseok shrugs. "I guess the doubts that arise when ever you have nothing to go on but whispered stories." 

"Rest assured, we didn't go because we wanted to." Jongdae states, again an intense look in his eyes, and Minseok has to look away. 

"That's obvious now... but there was something that I couldn't place earlier that I can now. Aren't there supposed to be twelve of you? What happened to the last one?" 

Another bout of silence falls across the room, but he can sense the sort of sadness tinged behind it. 

"He... uh, disappeared during the final battle." Junmyeon's head drops a little. "Made a choice he should have had to make." 

Yifan throws an arm around Junmyeon's shoulders at that, squeezing them a little. 

Minseok shifts a little, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. "I'm sure he made the decision in good faith... You shouldn't blame yourself for something he thought he needed to do." 

Suddenly Jongdae stands up from the floor, and Minseok can feel the hairs on his arms rise from the slight static in the air.

"Jongdae-" Baekhyun starts. 

"I'm going to take the first watch, I'll wake Tao for his shift." Jongdae abruptly states, heading out the door before anyone else could stop him or anything else. Taking the static of his feelings with him out of the door. 

"Sorry..." Minseok says, he doesn't know what he was apologizing for he just felt that it was needed. 

"Don't be..." Tao gives him a slight smile. "He was close to hyung." 

"We should go to sleep, we're leaving before the sun comes up." Kyungsoo states, getting up. 

Baekhyun then whispers something to Chanyeol before he’s heading out of the door behind Jongdae. 

Minseok doesn’t say anything else as the discussion seemingly cuts off there and they go on preparing for the night. Soon the small living room is silent save for the few breaths of the other people in the room, Baekhyun having returned just shortly after they had settled in for the night. However, Minseok find that his mind couldn’t be quieted, his mind filled with nothing yet something all at the same time. 

There was that familiar prickling along his skin. 

It's enough for him to finally get off the floor and head outside of the small house, the ground illuminated by moonlight. Making his eyes squint slightly as he adjusts, perhaps he was take Tao’s shift for him since he was already awake. 

His eyes travel around and he finds where Jongdae has posted himself on the roof, pretty inconspicuous if you weren’t exactly looking for someone to be on the roof. He, gets himself up with a pretty silent effort taken as he takes a seat on the small roof. 

Jongdae’s eyes follow him down, the question as to why he’s there clear in his eyes. 

“I couldn’t sleep… I thought it would be better to be out here rather than toss and turn.” 

Minseok folds his legs comfortably. “I could just take Tao’s turn once you’re done.” 

Jongdae doesn't say anything in response and returns to surveying his surroundings, normally silence wouldn't bother Minseok. in fact he would welcome it, but somehow this time it didn't feel right at all. 

He felt like he actually needed to fill the space up with something. 

"Sorry..." He blurts out, his own attention now turned to the sky, and the few stars dotting the sky, a brief dry breeze filling out the atmosphere. "I didn't mean to offend you with what I said.”

There's a slight sigh. "You... you didn't say anything wrong.There's no need for you to be sorry." 

"But I understand why it would be upsetting, it's still fresh for you." Minseok assures. "Tao mentioned that you two were close." 

Another round of silence, and Minseok can feel that slight feeling of his hairs raising from his skin, and he thinks that Jongdae was looking at him but he couldn't be so sure and he wasn’t going to check to look either. 

Another round of silence between them before he hears, shifting on the roof beside him.

"You did get one thing right, we shouldn't blame ourselves... he wouldn't want us to." 

Minseok looks over as he feels the other beside him stand up fully, the dimensions of his face shadowed and perhaps even broadened further by the shadows. Looking at him now, he's able to see that Jongdae is actually quite attractive, high cheek bones, long lashes and kind brown eyes that were partly taken over by a shadow of sadness. 

"You can handle the rest right?" Jongdae asks, tearing his own gaze away, turning his back to him once again. 

"Yeah, who do I wake up next?" Minseok settles in further on the roof tiles. 

"Chanyeol... Be safe." Jongdae hops off of the roof without another glance. 

Strangely taking with him the feeling of static against his skin, and the slight unease at the back of his mind.

***

True to Kyungsoo's word, they were out before the sun could even begin to even show the edges of the sunlight. Not that it was much of a problem for Minseok being up early, just more so the fact that it was much colder than where he had been used to staying. 

The air cut through him with a chilled blade, instead of the hot dry air that he was used to living in. 

He thinks it’s worse when he looks around and doesn't see anyone else around him shivering like he was, rubbing his arms up and down to at least alleviate some of the goosebumps on his arms. 

He also cursed himself for not preparing properly, it was a sheet of ice, why wouldn't it be cold. 

I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up... he thinks to himself with a sigh, the breath appearing in a little cloud of condensation. 

"Here..." Suddenly a cloak is thrown over his shoulders, an almost startling contrast through the thin material on his clothing, but it was welcome, as he looks slightly up to see Chanyeol beside him wearing a slight smile. 

"Thank you, Chanyeol..." 

"No problem. Just let me know if you get cold again, I can warm it up a little." He pl His finger wiggling slightly with flames a top of them. 

Minseok nods, securing the cloak around him and noticing that his shivers pretty much subside almost immediately, giving him a chance to fully taking in his surroundings. Nothing but a flat ice and snow covered plane for as long as the eye could see.

"Where exactly are we going? I'm assuming you already know a location." Minseok turns to Junmyeon and Yifan.

Junmyeon nods. "You'd be correct... we just wanted to be a little farther out incase there was something unexpected." 

"We should get a move on... we don't want to lose the element of surprise, hyung." Kyungsoo says. 

"That is if we even have it." Luhan steps forward. "I'm sure that they expect we're coming at this point.”

"Well if its a fight they want, its a fight they'll get..." Jongdae says. 

Yifan looks at Minseok then. "You don't have to come if you don't want to. We get if you don't want to do this... its not your fight..." There's an open end to the statement, that Minseok can't quite decipher. 

Minseok takes a step forward then, cloak slightly brushing the ground, he lets out a little scoff. "If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be..." he looks further out into the distance. "Its this way right?" 

"Yes. it is." Jongin answers. 

"Then let's get a move on, we're wasting darkness." Minseok continues walking ahead of the group. 

"Hey! Wait up..." Baekhyun soon follows after him , a grin on his face. 

The walk to their location doesn't take more than twenty minutes maybe, bBefore the group finally comes to a stop, but Minseok is confused, there's nothing in front of them, except the icy expanse. 

"Jongin, Luhan... you're up." Junmyeon states. 

The pair nod stepping forward immediately, Luhan placing a hand on Jongin's shoulder before they're gone in a blink. Returning as soon as they had gone it seemed after a couple of minutes.

“They're here." Luhan confirms. "They just have a type of field around the area shielding it from view.”

Within moments they're all popping in two at a time, true to Luhan's word, it wasn't just a vast endless plane. There was a whole operation going on. A bunch of workers and Drones walking around the area, past where they were hidden. Sleek metal, pulsating red, drilling into the ground. 

Despite that it didn't make any noise, it was as silent as the surroundings on the other side of the this barrier. 

_Well this would explain why people never come back…_ Minseok thinks. 

Minseok turns his attention from the ruckus going on in front of him and turns back to the group, Jongin arriving at last with Yifan and Junmyeon. 

“Do we know exactly where we’re going? This doesn’t seem like a place that we would want to get lost in.” 

“No we don’t, there wasn’t enough time for specifics.” Yifan states. 

“So look for the place with a lot more people hanging around.” Minseok sighs a little, pulling up his face covering. 

The group soon makes its way inside split into pairs, and given sections of the facility to checkout. Minseok finds that he gets paired with Jongdae, not that he minds much, the other man is silent as they make their way through the facility. 

And it seems that they did have some sort of understanding between them, even if Minseok still wasn’t sure if Jongdae wanted to fight him or curse him out with the way he had been looking at him up to this point. 

But that wasn’t on his mind at the moment, so far it was focusing on the task ahead of him, so far they had been lucky enough not to run into anyone as they walked through the area. Given enough time to hide from sight as they continue through the facility. The halls looking the same no matter where they went, just an endless winding of grey and metal, Minseok found his brain beginning to wander about things that he hadn't thought of before. 

What would happen if they didn't stop them from finding whatever they were searching for. 

"Jongdae..." He whispers loud enough for them to hear, even though they were the only ones currently in sight in the long hallway.

"Yeah?" Jongdae's head slightly turns in his direction. 

"What happens if they find what they're looking for?" 

Jongdae is silent for a moment, taking the time to check around a corner before he clears them to continue forward. "What has been happening, you've noted that the land is suddenly more barren... they'll continue until this world is completely barren. And the population is reliant on them.”

"It sounds like they've done this before." 

Jongdae nods, once again pausing at another intersection, peeking both ways before they continue themselves. "They have, and were very successful until us. We were the thing standing between them and this world." 

"Until you weren't..." Minseok thumbs at the dagger in his sleeve, the dagger in his sleeve, this time turning his head to look down another dark corridor. 

"Until we weren't." Jongdae agrees. "As embarrassing as it was to admit, they caught us by surprise.”

"With what?" Minseok turns his head to look at Jongdae now that they're walking side by side. "I can't imagine there's much that would catch you all." 

Jongdae huffs a little. "And that was our mistake in thinking... although we couldn't have expected that they would make copies." 

"Copies?" 

Jongdae nods sharply. "Copies of only six of us... and they weren't perfect, but it was enough to completely throw us off." 

Minseok nods. "I see…"

"We should be getting close to our section." Jongdae announces. 

They walk a few more feet until, Jongdae's arm stops him, pressing him back against the wall with one arm. Holding a finger up agains his lips, as he points. Minseok follows the finger to see that they had barely missed two guards completing their round. The pair backing a little into the shadowed hallway, backs against the wall until the sounds of the footsteps faded far into the distance. 

Minseok took note that these Drones looked particularly less human than the ones that he was used to seeing around the city. Obviously their time here allowed for more advancements on their humanity. 

It made their skin crawl. 

Although they were gone, he could still feel Jongdae's arm securely pressing him to the wall, eyes laser focused on where the two Drones had long disappeared. 

"They're gone." Minseok rests his hand on Jongdae's arm slightly. 

The slight touch seems to bring the god out of it, blinking and immediately releasing the pressure, his arm dropping. 

"Sorry..." He mumbles, stepping away and abruptly going down the way the pair of guards had come from. 

Minseok follows behind, the hallway eventually leading them to a door, closed with a pad of some sort, glowing red. 

It wasn't anything like Minseok had ever seen with the small bits of technology that they did have. 

"This is it." Jongdae confirms. 

"The key pad... unless you know of a way to get through that or have the code. I think it might set off some alerts." Minseok crosses his arms slightly.

Jongdae gives him a little smirk, he sees a tiny bout of lightning wrapping delicately around his outstretched finger. That small bout of energy soon travels to the small pad, short circuiting slightly before it makes a slight beeping sound. The seal of the door opening following shortly after. 

"After you." Jongdae smirks a little wider. 

Minseok can only huff silently in appreciation as he walks into the room, which was confusingly and startlingly empty. "Well unless they like to throw off their own help, and just keep nothing here... they're more eccentrically evil than you thought." he turns his attention to Jongdae, the other having returned after shutting the door. 

"They wouldn't guard an empty room for no reason." Jongdae gazes back, eyes as dark as a storm. 

Minseok tears his own gaze away first. "I know... I was just saying. We should be looking for secret panels?" 

"That would be ideal." 

Minseok after that starts his own search of the room, feeling along the walls for any type of ridge, bump, or dip that would give away something more in the rather empty looking space. From the corners of his eyes, he can see Jongdae doing the same from the corner of his eye, eventually it gets to the point that he hasn't found anything, and turns around. Leaning on the wall behind him.

Waiting for Jongdae to get closer before he decides to speak. 

"What exactly is your problem with me?" He asks. 

Jongdae stops in his tracks searching the walls, eyes turning to look at him now instead of the cold metal wall. "What?" 

"Your problem, with me..." He reiterates. 

"Is this really the time to make small talk?" 

"It is when you look at me like I personally stole from you." 

Jongdae looks at him for a moment before turning back to searching the walls for some sort of give in the steel, or some type of sensor. 

Minseok just sighs. "Sorry for whatever I did to you." He mumbles. 

He thinks that the statement goes unheard until Jongdae turns his attention towards him, his eyes once again that stormy brown and Minseok has maybe thought that he had pushed a button. And having seen a display of Jongdae's powers in action he wasn't sure that it was the wisest thing he had ever done in his life.

But before he can vocalize whatever he was going to say to Minseok in response, the room falls into pitch black darkness. 

Minseok even slightly jumps at the suddenness. 

"This doesn't look good at all." Minseok remarks, his eyes flickering around the now darkened space. "Do you think that we've been made?" 

Soon the room is lit with the small flickering irregularity of lightning at Jongdae's fingertips, the shadows dancing across their faces, carving out cheekbones and other facial features. 

"I don't know..." Jongdae looks around the room. "And no one has alerted us to anything, so it might only be where we are." Jongdae backs up from Minseok going to walk back towards the center of the room. "I'm going to look and see if anything is outside…"

Minseok nods, continuing his search along the walls, knowing that if there was something outside trying to flush them out then their time had long since been gone. There's a sudden moment where he was pushing against something solid and then the next he was falling through free space.

He can only liken the sensation to what he has experienced from being teleported by Jongin.

The space is soon replaced with a solid surface beneath his body, earning a slight groan from Minseok as the landing was none too soft on his part, it wouldn't leave any permanent damage but it still wasn't pleasant. He pushes himself onto his feet, much like the last space he was just in, it was pretty much a darkened pit, he couldn't even see his own hand in the darkness.

"Jongdae?" He calls out, his voice a mere whisper, swallowed up by the space around him, he doesn't know why he tries calling out for the other man, unless he had fallen with him, it was more than likely he was down where ever this was alone. 

Minseok pats himself down searching for his pocket, to see if he had actually packed the small light he had traded for one of his stash items a while back. It had kind of hurt him to think about getting the item, but he had thought about what if he needed it. 

Needless to say he was proud of the purchase now as he cracked the slight stick, a clear glow now filling the small space around him, it was limited light and there was no way that he would be able to see where he had come in with the limited range. 

But he was at least able to see that this was the same material as the one in the previous room, and he could see that it extended in the direction. 

He really had no other choice than to keep going that way and hope that it would take him somewhere good, or at least not a place swarming with those who undoubtedly worked here. 

He didn't think his presence would be much appreciated.

The walk isn't filled with anything other than his own footsteps for the duration of his walk, he couldn't see any monitoring devices as far as the naked eye could see, eventually he could begin to literally see light at the end of this hallway, illuminating the walkway just enough that he was able to put the light stick back into his pouch.

This next room had a pair of stairs leading to what ever was glowing down below, more than likely what they were looking for, or maybe it was just another part of the massive facility that you could barely begin to comprehend from the outside. 

Either way it was now or never, if he was going to have to fight his way out, then so be it, immediately curling his fingers around the end of the hilt of his small dagger as he descended the stairs into the glowing area.

Looking up he could see that this was near the large spire that they had seen when they had first arrive, going further down not running into anyone made him seriously more apprehensive. He would almost feel more comforted if he was able to see guards or other advisories. touching the bottom of the stairwell, leads him closer to the glow, although it never got any brighter. 

It looked to be something incased in a tube, or maybe it was just really the way that he was looking at it and the way that the light was being refracted across the room. He could see that there was a pool of condensation at the base falling down the sides. 

Looking all around he indeed could confirm that he was alone at the moment. 

And apart from that, this was probably the biggest red flag to ever give a red flag, the big shiny object sitting in the middle of the room.

But he couldn't help but be drawn towards it.

This was obviously that this glowing thing is important, perhaps even what they had been searching for in the ice. 

"And why worry about someone coming to take this, if they could simply make them disappear..." He mutters to himself. He take his hand off of his dagger for a moment. 

He was debating which would cause more damage trying to take this thing, or sitting in wait. 

"Man I've really gotten myself into something haven't I?" 

Minseok at least wished that he was able to communicate with Luhan or one of the others, to at least let them know of the possibly very moronic thing he was getting ready to do. He steels himself, getting closer to the object in the middle of the room, despite his suspicion of it being cold, he doesn't feel anything as he draws his hand closer, finding that there isn't a covering or anything protecting it. 

It was now or never. 

His hand is sure as he moves forward, through the surrounding light, fingers just brushing the glowing object. 

And for the second time his surroundings go dark. 

When he comes back to light, he finds the room once again darkened and the small glow gone, and himself on the ground. 

His own head pounding a little bit, and his vision a little blurry a little bit, ears feeling like they had been stuffed with cotton, a slight high pitched sound ringing in his ears as he tries to take in his surroundings, but not much time is given for him to fully orient himself before the room is filled with flashing lights and an alarm sounding. He curses slightly, gritting his teeth as he pushed himself up right. 

They had been made, and it was at the most in opportune time for him naturally. 

Minseok shakes his head trying to clear his senses up more so he wouldn't stumble around when he should be running for his life and trying to re connect with the others. 

As his luck would have it these past couple of days, he bleary sees guards beginning to come down the stairs where he is, his ears finally coming back into sharp clarity the alarm almost an overbearing noise. 

Minseok takes breath, on instinct hand still finding his weapon. "I was just thinking that it was starting to get a little lonely. I'm glad you could join the party." 

The Drones surround him, their guns pointed at the ready at any second to fire. 

"Cooperate and come with us... or we will use deadly force." 

Minseok shakes his head again, his dagger dropping further into his hand. "You know, I didn't think that you all could get any creepier... but I'm going to have to turn down your invitation. I've already got plans for later." Minseok hurls his dagger towards the first drone that had spoken to him. 

Minseok doesn't stop to look, the satisfying thunk being all the proof he needs to know its hit his entire target, as he focuses his next movement on another drone elbowing them until he could gain control of its weapon, shooting two others with it, and then its self with the its own gun. 

These actions leaving him a little off balance and alone once again under the flashing lights, but he knows that this wouldn't be for long if he didn't get a move on, pushing back his nausea, he picks up his thrown weapon from flesh and heads back up the way he came.

His stride eventually getting to two stairs at a time, luckily the hallway was more illuminated this time around, allowing him to find the entrance to the room he was originally in empty. Jongdae was no where to be found, although there were tiny signs that there was a fight that had gone on here. 

He makes his way across the room, heading back into the hallway of the main compound, he can hear far more movement than their first time out here, sticking to the walls more than likely was going to be the way to go. 

_Luhan, if you're listening, I just wanted to let you know I'm alive..._ Minseok doesn't know if the man would be able to hear him, or was even still around to hear him, but it was worth a shot.

Minseok's plan works well, sticking to the walls and being able to avoid the patrols hurriedly going across the compound, but this one was directly in the way he needed to go and there was no telling which way they would go. He would more than likely, guess that they would begin at some point heading in the direction of their little hidden room, and the now encompasitated group of people in it.

"Beta two, report."

Minseok hears the monotonous voice call out, receiving nothing back. 

And Minseok once again curses his luck today, he hadn't had this much combat, since he had first started out on his own after stumbling into that town in the badlands.

Better now than never. 

Minseok wastes no time on going on the offensive, attacking the first armored humanoid he can get his hands on, disposing of them as quickly as he can without causing too much damage to himself. a couple of them to get a couple of lucky punches in as he tries to occupy their weapons, his mistake comes when a sudden bout of dizziness comes over him and he's nearly beheaded.

But his arm moves faster, and what comes with it has it was a shocking effect, a solid pane of ice appearing and freezing the weapon, Minseok gets over the momentary shock dispatching of the last solider, his breath heaving as he looks at his own hand and then the small mound of ice that confirmed he hadn't actually been hallucinating. 

Perhaps he had hit his head when he passed out. 

_There's no time to think about that now..._ he scolds himself. 

Once again, immediately taking off down the hallway the same way that he had come, a few minutes in he can hear more drones behind him, mentioning that he had 'The object', Minseok didn't look behind him, he knew what was there, more enemies than he could possibly handle on his own. 

Instead he begins to look for a way out, something to give him leverage or the the high ground, but it was just all the same smooth grey hallway, and one wrong turn out of the way he had come could lead him in more trouble than he was in currently. 

Eventually this too seems to becoming to and end as he begins to see someone or something standing in the distance of the hallway he was heading down, if it was just one, then great he could take them down or sidestep them and be on his way out. 

the cold sounded a lot more favorable than being trapped here, and possibly being trapped here or worse turned into one of their drones.

But as he gets closer he realizes that he recognizes the tall lanky form in front of him.

"Hyung! Duck!" 

His first piece of luck, as he follows the command, going into a slide on the floor, as a torrent of hot flame flew over his head and into the mass of Drones behind him, once he's able he turns on his stomach, arm covering his eyes, but he is able to see just in time the last of it, nothing left but small piles of ash and what looked to be melted plastic and metal, the burning metallic smell in his nose. 

Minseok pushes himself to his feet, looking at Chanyeol. "Thanks, I thought I was a goner for a moment." He rests his hands on his knees as he gets his breathing back down to a normal rate, he then quirks an eyebrow at the taller. "...Hyung?" 

Chanyeol looks kind of startled at the suddenness. "Do you not want me to call you that?"

Minseok stands up right again once he feels less winded. "Do as you please, I don't mind." 

Chanyeol gives him a smile in return. "Come on, the others are waiting for us... and If we don't come back soon. Jongdae will charge in here himself again." 

Minseok nods in agreement, he was more than ready to leave this place. "Lead the way." 

They take off into another run, dispatching enemies along the way, which he would have to say was a lot easier with Chanyeol around when he could just practically turn things into ash, or at least make it so that they couldn't move without a lot of help. 

They eventually make it out into the white of the snow again, almost blinding Minseok with moonlight as a complete contrast, he can see the group ahead of them, two of which seemed to be in an argument of some sort. Once he gets closer he realizes that its Jongdae talking to both Junmyeon and Yifan. 

"He's been gone too long... what if they're trapped? or captured, I can be in and out quickly." Jongdae argues, there's a sense of urgency and aggravation in his voice. 

"Give it a little more time, Dae. Chanyeol is just as skilled as you, and it would do us no good if three of us are captured." Junmyeon reasons calmly, his arms folded across his chest, although there was an undercurrent of worry in his tone as well. 

"Hyung! they're here!" Sehun spots them first, waving with his arms. 

Chanyeol's smile brightens. "You didn't think I would find him, Dae? I'm disappointed in your lack of faith. 

Minseok doesn't miss the way that Jongdae lets out a breath, one hand to his heart as they finish getting closer. 

The pair come to a stop with the rest of the group, Junmyeon immediately comes up to them, Jongdae lingering just behind him. "Are you alright? Jongdae said you disappeared." Junmyeon looks him over a little. 

"Yeah, I think I might've hit my head... but that's not important now. We need to get some distance between us in them, I think-" Minseok doesn't get the rest of the speech out before Jongin interrupts them. 

"Too late, we have company." the younger announces.

Immediately the outside turns into the battlefield, Kyungsoo hurdling a couple of big rocks at the oncoming forces, Sehun following behind with a big gust of wind, Yifan ascending into the air, Tao freezing the space around him as he takes out enemies fairly quickly without too much care. 

Minseok once again finds himself fending off another close blow to the head, taking down combatants as fast as his body would allow, but compared to them, he could feel his body beginning to tire. This is more evidenced by the fact, when Jongdae saves him literally via lightning strike, taking the spot at his back quickly. 

"Thanks..." He remarks. 

Jongdae acknowledges this with a small shake of his head, almost immediately going back into dispatching of enemies, fantastical displays of lightning sparking across the snow and short circuiting the Drones. 

Minseok is almost amazed at how seamless fighting together with Jongdae is, he didn't know if it was the fact that he was the fact the other was supposed to be some type of warrior god. He guesses the surprise came more with him being able to keep up with whatever rhythm had been established between the two of them, it was almost as easy as breathing, thoughtless in a way. 

Perhaps he could begin to learn to like having someone at his back once all of this was over and they inevitably went their separate ways. 

Usually he would be able to begin to feel his muscles begin to fatigue after cutting down, and dodging blow after blow, but he couldn't feel that now at the moment, his whole body perhaps still too occupied with the fact that he was still trying to keep himself from dying out here, along with the person fighting with him. 

It was more than just keeping himself alive. 

There's a brief moment of reprieve, his breath curling in the air, bodies disposed of around them as the snow had turned into a virtual battle ground. He could see the rest of Jongdae's group using their abilities. 

So much for just writings and whisperings, he would never scoff at someone else's belief in them again. 

Minseok turns his attention around, seeing Jongdae dispatching the last of the group that they had been fending off, quite a few feet away from him now, but Minseok's face blanches as he realizes that there is a Drone pointing his weapon at Jongdae's turned back. He recognized the weapon, a powerful energy based weapon, it would rip through him like this if he wasn't ready for it. 

Especially if they had been fighting this enemy for a long time, then there was no telling what exactly it was going to do if it hit him. 

There was no time to call for him, as he wouldn't hear over the sound of the ongoing fighting. 

He's not really sure if his brain or his body moves first, but which ever it is allows for the sudden appearance of a large wall, tearing right through where the shot was supposed to go. The large ice wall, cutting trough the air and the inky night and approaching dawn like a glittering diamond. The weapons blast merely fizzling out a dull red, barely making a dent into the wall. 

For the moment it is as if the whole world stops, all attention now being directed towards him as he looks incredulous at his own stretched out hand and then up to Jongdae who was turning away from the ice wall and now looking towards him. A look in the other man's eyes that he couldn't quite decipher, one that he wasn't sure he really wanted to explore further at the moment. 

"I..." Minseok drops his hand, looking at it was going to have an explanation as to what just happened, or that his skin on his hand would change to accept this new confusion, but he can't vocalize this he can only look back at at Jongdae a little slack jawed.

"New orders... capture the one of ice." One of the drones state, all of the rest immediately drawing their weapons. 

Immediately he can feel Jongin at his side and suddenly the rest are there too, Jongdae standing right next to him if not slightly in front of him as if to protect him from sight. 

"We need to get somewhere else." Junmyeon states, as Kyungsoo erect a large dome rock structure over them with the swipe up of both hands. 

"Be quick it won't hold for long." Kyungsoo states. 

Baekhyun uses the time to create some semblance of light in the space emanating from his hands. 

"Where should we go? we don't know of anywhere else, and if we do... they're probably all occupied." Tao states.

Minseok rubs his wrist, shaking the fog off of his mind, the questions he didn't have the current luxury to entertain. "I know somewhere." 

"Where?" Yifan asks. 

Minseok opens his mouth to explain the location to Jongin, but Luhan steps forward. 

"Show me." He reaches his hands forward as if asking permission. 

Minseok nods, and Luhan places his hands gently on Minseok's temples both of their eyes shutting for a moment, before Luhan releases him, turning to Jongin and then they're gone in an instant just before the whole structure collapses. 

***

An immediate search of the location that Minseok had provided them with made the assurance that they were indeed alone inside of the long sandy, and abandoned tunnel structure. 

Save the few creatures that would lurk around in the sand. 

"Where do you even begin to find these places?" Baekhyun asks as they settle down in the spot that would serve as their momentary camp. 

"There's a lot of time to search for suitable places like this when you need to survive." Minseok stops in his tracks, and once that conversation dies down he can just feel the stares of the others on him. 

And he looks right back at them, not sure what he wanted to ask, or what he was supposed to say, but looking at them now, none of them looked the least bit surprised. 

"What do you know? What were they searching for out there?" Minseok takes a breath, his tone isn’t accustory, but rather stating something. 

They all look between each other. 

Sehun finally getting some of the courage to look back at him and say something. "Something important to us." 

"Don't be cryptic... what exactly was it?" He presses. 

Minseok had the nagging feeling that he knew exactly, what it was, he just didn't want to admit to himself what exactly was going on.

Junmyeon stands up this time. "It was... is the power of our twelfth member." He can tell that Junmyeon is looking at him from a place of honesty. 

He knew the other would not lie to him and Minseok thinks that this is what scares him the most.

"Okay..." Minseok nods. "I think that's what I found then... I can just give it back, do you have somewhere you can keep it. Because I think that I am the last person that should be having this in my possession." 

"The power cant be transferred to another, it only recognizes one master." Jongdae stands then. "No one else can wield it." 

Minseok's eyes go a little wide at the pure implication that was there in front of his eyes, but he didn't believe. " _No._.. No... But I am no one." 

"You stumbled out of the desert... covered in dirt, and seemingly no recollection of what had happened before, nothing but an earring and your name. Tell me is that correct?" Jongdae challenges him with his gaze. 

Minseok couldn't find the words to combat what he was saying because all of it was true, he had woken up in the old ladies house in the badlands with her telling him that he had stumbled out of the desert with no recollection, an earring, and what he believed was his name. 

But nothing else to indicate who he was or who he had been. 

"You stumbled out of that desert after nearly thirty-years of being hidden." Jongdae says, approaching closer. 

Minseok is silent, his breath, kind of beginning to come heavy, his whole reality, or whatever it had been had been a whole lie. "And you knew... you knew this whole time?" 

Baekhyun kind of sadly smiles. "Yes, but we couldn't exactly... say anything. You were already spooked as it was." 

"We didn't want you to run, hyung." Chanyeol says. 

Suddenly the title has a whole different meaning to it now than the hour or so ago he had asked if he could address him that way. 

"Especially when it was clear that you weren't yourself." Yixing gives him another gentle smile.

Minseok thinks back on all of it, the looks of them at the beginning, it wasn't because he had been living in their temple, but because they knew who he was. He looks up again, at all of them again. "I shouldn't have been able to enter your weapon vault..." He realizes, If he had just been human. 

The small smiles that cross everyone's faces confirm that fact. 

Minseok's brain wants to reject all of the information, but he can feel that it is right, none of it sounded wrong, in fact it was like beginning to fill out a puzzle he hadn't realized he had been trying to figure out. 

"Am... Am I still kind of the same?" Minseok feels strange asking the question. 

But they are the ones who would know who he was- _is_ \- best. 

Kyungsoo smiles this time, one of the first he had seen from the otherwise quite serious man. "Yeah... for the most part... you just were functioning under the rules of the world you'd been living in." 

"Thats nice..." for the first time he feels kind of settled, but at the same time vastly unsettled. "I'm... going to go think for a moment." 

He doesn't give the others room to protest before he's moving through one of the tunnels in the search for some place to occupy and collect all of the information he had just received. 

"I'm a fucking... God?" he whispers to himself chuckling to himself. 

If he had no idea at all who he was before, now it was just blown completely out of the water, sure maybe the son of someone who had died in the badlands or someone who worked in the city. But a whole functioning deity of the very same warriors that their current overlords had banned any mention of. 

Though he guess some part of him had always known, choosing to live in an abandoned temple that no one else would dare go, and then being there at the most opportune time when they had come back. 

He can only let out a little sigh, he honestly didn't know all of what he should feel.

Soon enough he hears footsteps approaching, but he doesn't say anything as the person sits next to him. 

"You shouldn't be alone." Jongdae's voice says next to him. "I know it's a lot to take in." 

Minseok opens his eyes and turns to look at him, just staring silently for a moment, remembering that they had mentioned that he had at one point been close to the man, it would explain some of the looks and maybe some of the passion when they first met, his last memory of their parting was of him sacrificing himself to save the rest of them. 

Who wouldn't be furious. 

"I was the 'him' you were talking about." He shuffles a bit in that direction. "How close were we?" 

Jongdae stares at him silently, hands reaching towards his ear, brushing the bobble slightly. "I gave you that earring... It relieved me when I saw it…" He provides as an answer. 

Minseok can't contain the slight shiver that runs through him, when Jongdae's fingers make contact with the slight skin on on his ear just behind his neck. "You know I thought you hated me." 

Jongdae blinks surprised. "Angry? Yes. At you? No. Never you, maybe a little sad." He sighs a little. "And I was trying to restrain myself, and overall I guess I was just frustrated that you don't remember anything." He admits.

Minseok falls silent for a moment, staring at the sand between them, running one finger through it in a pattern. "What exactly were we... I can see the way you look at me, sometimes... I'm more than just your Hyung." 

Jongdae's breath catches a little. "Can I show you?" the question is hesitant, almost a quiet whisper swallowed by stone. 

Minseok only thinks about it for a brief moment before Jongdae's lips are capturing his, and he almost immediately melts, the kiss bringing forth flickering images behind his eyelids as they part, for the most part Minseok's eyes still closed and his mouth still a little parted. 

When his gaze finally does reopen, the amount of tenderness Jongdae looks at him with is enough to cause a warm feeling in his chest. 

"We do this a lot, don't we? I saw some of it.... those dreams make sense now, they were memories..." Minseok remarks. 

Jongdae nods with a bright smile. "Yeah, we do..." 

"No wonder we fight so well together." Minseok remarks. 

"The best." Jongdae still has that silly little grin on his face as Minseok traces some of his features with a delicate hand. 

“I know you mentioned my powers… but I don’t know how to use them… The last time was by complete mistake.” 

Jongdae laughs a little. “Its engrained in you, your powers are as much part of you as they you are of them. Call for them and they will do as you ask.” 

Minseok hums a little bit. “I hope you call that same thought process when we have to go up against the Drones and the powers that be.” 

“We’re complete now… the Tree of Life will thrive again.” Jongdae states. “Nothing will separate us this time.” he squeezes Minseok’s hand. 

The words fill him with a strange thrill of excitement, although he is incredibly nervous about suddenly being tasked with saving the world. 

He’s more excited for what new beginning, memories returning or not, that this would bring him. 


End file.
